Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics (Coursera)

Offered by IBM,
Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics (Coursera)

This course is designed for everyone, including professionals, executives, students, and enthusiasts interested in leveraging effective prompt engineering techniques to unlock the full potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT. Prompt engineering is a process to effectively guide generative AI models and control their output to produce desired results. In this course, you will learn the techniques, approaches, and best practices for writing effective prompts.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

You will learn about prompt techniques like zero-shot and few-shot, which can improve the reliability and quality of large language models (LLMs). You will also explore various prompt engineering approaches like Interview Pattern, Chain-of-Thought, and Tree-of-Thought, which aim at generating precise and relevant responses.
You will be introduced to commonly used prompt engineering tools like IBM watsonx Prompt Lab, Spellbook, and Dust.
The hands-on labs included in the course offer an opportunity to optimize results by creating effective prompts in the IBM Generative AI Classroom. You will also hear from practitioners about the tools and approaches used in prompt engineering and the art of writing effective prompts.
This course is part of the following programs:

What you'll learn

  • Explain the concept and relevance of prompt engineering in generative AI models.
  • Apply best practices for creating prompts and explore examples of impactful prompts.
  • Practice common prompt engineering techniques and approaches for writing effective prompts.
  • Explore commonly used tools for prompt engineering to aid with prompt engineering.

Syllabus

Prompt Engineering for Generative AI
In this module, you will learn the concept of prompt engineering in generative AI. You will also learn the best practices for writing effective prompts and assess common prompt engineering tools.

Prompt Engineering: Techniques and Approaches
In this module, you will discover techniques for skillfully crafting prompts that effectively steer generative AI models. You will also learn about various prompt engineering approaches that can enhance the capabilities of generative AI models to produce precise and relevant responses.

Course Quiz, Project, and Wrap-up
This module includes a graded quiz to test and reinforce your understanding of concepts covered in the course. The module also includes a glossary to enhance comprehension of generative AI-related terms. The module includes a final project, which provides an opportunity to gain hands-on experience on the concepts covered in the course. The module also includes optional content. This content includes the techniques for writing effective prompts for image generation. Additionally, you can learn about Prompt Lab, a prompting tool designed to maximize your prompt engineering capabilities in IBM watsonx.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Machine Learning Rapid Prototyping with IBM Watson Studio (Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Machine Learning Rapid Prototyping with IBM Watson Studio (Coursera)

An emerging trend in AI is the availability of technologies in which automation is used to select a best-fit model, perform feature engineering and improve model performance via hyperparameter optimization. This automation will provide rapid-prototyping of models and allow the Data Scientist to focus their efforts on applying domain knowledge to fine-tune models. This course will take the learner through the creation of an end-to-end automated pipeline built by Watson Studio’s AutoAI experiment tool, explaining the underlying technology at work as developed by IBM Research.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Designing Autonomous AI (Coursera) Coursera
University of Washington,Microsoft

Designing Autonomous AI (Coursera)

When children learn how to hit a baseball, they don’t start with fastballs. Their coaches begin with the basics: how to grip the handle of the bat, where to put their feet and how to keep their eyes on the ball. Similarly, an autonomous AI system needs a subject matter expert (SME) to break a complex process or problem into easier tasks that give the AI important clues about how to find a solution faster.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Technologies and platforms for Artificial Intelligence (Coursera) Coursera
Politecnico di Milano

Technologies and platforms for Artificial Intelligence (Coursera)

This course will address the hardware technologies for machine and deep learning (from the units of an Internet-of-Things system to a large-scale data centers) and will explore the families of machine and deep learning platforms (libraries and frameworks) for the design and development of smart applications and systems.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
El Abogado del Futuro: Legaltech y la Transformación Digital del Derecho (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Austral

El Abogado del Futuro: Legaltech y la Transformación Digital del Derecho (Coursera)

La revolución digital cambió nuestra manera de comunicarnos, de comerciar y de relacionarnos. Ahora, está llegando al mundo del derecho. Este programa te ofrecerá una visión amplia de las principales tendencias que están afectando a la industria legal: - El nacimiento del mercado de legaltech y la aplicación de tecnología en el derecho. - El rol de la inteligencia artificial en la automatización del trabajo de los abogados. - La tecnología de blockchain y su impacto en la forma en que firmamos y ejecutamos contratos. - Las iniciativas para asegurar el acceso a la justicia a través de cortes virtuales y jueces robot.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Automated Report Generation with Generative AI (Coursera) Coursera
Coursera Instructor Network

Automated Report Generation with Generative AI (Coursera)

In today's data-driven world, generating reports efficiently is a valuable skill for professionals across various industries. This course introduces beginners to the world of automated report generation using AI-powered tools and techniques. You will learn how to leverage the capabilities of artificial intelligence to streamline the reporting process, save time, and improve data accuracy.

Sep 14th 2026
1 Week
Legal Tech and the Digital Transformation of Law (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Austral

Legal Tech and the Digital Transformation of Law (Coursera)

The digital revolution changed the way we communicate and trade. Now, it is coming into the world of law. This program will give you a broad overview of the main trends that are affecting the legal industry: the birth of the legal tech market and the application of technology in law; the role of artificial intelligence in the automation of the work of lawyers; blockchain technology and its impact on the way we sign and execute contracts; initiatives to ensure access to justice through virtual courts and robot judges.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Business Implications of AI: Full course (Coursera) Coursera
EIT Digital

Business Implications of AI: Full course (Coursera)

In this course you will learn what Artificial Intelligence is, from a leaders point of view. How shall we, as leaders, understand it from a corporate strategy point of view? What is it and how can it be used? What are the crucial strategic decisions we have to make, and how to make them? What consequences can we expect if we decide on doing AI-projects and what kind of competences do we need? Where shall we start, and what could be a good second as well as third step? What implications for the organization can we expect? These are the questions answered in this course.

Sep 7th 2026
4 Weeks
Generative AI Primer (Coursera) Coursera
Vanderbilt University

Generative AI Primer (Coursera)

ChatGPT and other large language models are going to be more important in your life and business than your smartphone, if you use them right. ChatGPT can tutor your child in math, generate a meal plan and recipes, write software applications for your business, help you improve your personal cybersecurity, and that is just in the first hour that you use it.

Sep 14th 2026
1 Week
Business Implications of AI: A Nano-course (Coursera) Coursera
EIT Digital

Business Implications of AI: A Nano-course (Coursera)

In this course you will learn what Artificial Intelligence is, from a leaders point of view. How shall we, as leaders, understand it from a corporate strategy point of view? What is it and how can it be used? What are the crucial strategic decisions we have to make, and how to make them? What consequences can we expect if we decide on doing AI-projects and what kind of competences do we need? Where shall we start, and what could be a good second as well as third step? What implications for the organization can we expect? These are the questions answered in this course.

Sep 7th 2026
4 Weeks
Prompt Engineering for Web Developers (Coursera) Coursera
Scrimba

Prompt Engineering for Web Developers (Coursera)

Not quite getting the results you want from ChatGPT? Wondering how you can use AI language models to your advantage? Then this course is for you! If you’ve spent any amount of time with AI language models like ChatGPT and Google Bard, you may have noticed the results can sometimes be, well, frustrating. When it comes to leveraging AI language models, your output is often only as good as your input. In other words, it’s all about learning how best to communicate your desired results. Effective prompt engineering is the secret sauce for getting the most out of AI.

Sep 14th 2026
3 Weeks